Bangladesh is a an ethnic melting potof races. The proto-Australoids, sometimes called Veddas, were one of Vedda peoples were perhaps the earliest groups group to enter the area. According to some ethnologists, they were followed by Mediterranean Caucasoids (whites), also known as Aryans. Armenoids (peoples from the Mediterranean and neighbouring areas, particularly those who spoke languages of Indo-European stock) are believed to have entered as well.With the coming of the Muslims in the .

During the 8th century AD, new elements were introduced; persons of Arab, Persian, and Turkish origin moved in large numbers to the subcontinent. By the beginning of the 13th century they had entered what is now Bangladesh. The contention that modern Bengali Muslims are all descended from lower-caste Hindus who were had converted to Islām is incorrect; a substantial proportion are descendants of the Muslims who reached the subcontinent from elsewhere.

Most of the tribal indigenous peoples of Bangladesh inhabit the Chittagong Hill Tracts in the southeast, the least densely settled area of the country. They are predominantly Buddhist, and some of the tribes are related to the peoples of Myanmar. Of the approximately 12 ethnolinguistic groups of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, the four largest are the Chakmā, the Marma (Magh or Mogh), the Tripura (Tipra), and the Mro. Since the mid-1970s ethnic tensions and periodic violence have marked the Chittagong Hill Tracts, where as many tribal peoples object peoples long resident in the area have objected to the influx of Muslim Bengali settlers.

Tribal Indigenous peoples in other parts of Bangladesh include the SantālsSanthal, of the proto-Australoid groupKhasi, the Khāsis, the Gāro, and the Hajang. The Santāls Santhal peoples live in the northwestern part of Bangladesh, the Khāsis Khasi in Sylhet in the Khāsi Hills near the border with Assam, and the Gāro and Hajang in the northeastern part of the country.

Apart from these tribesgroups, the rest of the people are Bengalis—an ethnic as well as a linguistic group. The Bengalis, however, are not homogeneous in origin. In generalFor instance, the people of the coastal areas , with whom the were a place where, historically, many Muslim merchants of originally from the Middle East were in close touch, show physical features that seem to be the result of the admixture of local people with those of Turkish and Semitic originsettled and became integral members of the community.

Linguistic composition

Bengali, the language spoken in Bangladesh, belongs to the Indo-Aryan group of languages and is related to Sanskrit. Like Pāli, however, and various other forms of Prākrit in ancient India, Bengali originated beyond the influence of the Brahman society of the Aryans. The Pāla rulers of Bengal (8th to 12th century), who were Buddhists and whose religious language was Pāli, did not inhibit the emergence of a colloquial tongue known as Gaudiya Prākrit. This colloquial tongue was the language from which Bengali was derived.

Bengali is the mother tongue of about 98 percent of the people. Tribal Indigenous peoples have their own distinct dialects, some of which are related to the Tibeto-Burman group of languages. English is spoken in urban centres and among educated groups.

Bengali has two distinct styles: sādhu bhāṣā, the literary language, which contains many words derived from Sanskrit, and calit bhāṣā, the colloquial language, which is the standard medium of informal discourse, both spoken and written. Until the 1930s sādhu bhāṣā was used for all printed matter, but calit bhāṣā is now the basic form used for modern literature. There are a number of dialects. Bengali contains a large number of loanwords from Portuguese, English, Arabic, Persian, and Hindi.

Religions

More than 85 percent of the population follows the religion of Islām, which was made the state religion by a 1988 constitutional amendment. The arrival of a handful of Muslims in Bengal at the beginning of the 13th century and the rapid expansion and increasing strength of their rule influence permanently changed the character and culture of the area. When the Muslims first arrived, the Hindus were in an overwhelming majority, but there were also Buddhists and a few animists. The Hindus remained in the majority throughout the Turko-Afghan and Mughal periods. Even as late as 1872 there were in Bengal more than 18 million Hindus, compared with about 16 million Muslims. From the 1890s onward, however, the balance began to shift in favour of the Muslims.

There were several reasons for the increase in the proportion of the Muslim population. Perhaps the most significant was the activity of ascetic divines and Ṣūfis (Arabic: “Mystics”), who won converts among lower-caste Hindus. Other reasons include an influx of Muslims from northern India and from other countries, as well as the relatively higher birth rate among Muslims.

Most Muslims belong to the Sunnī sect, but there are a small number of Shīʿite Muslims, mostly descendants of immigrants from Iran. Hindus, who constitute about 10 percent of the population, are divided into scheduled (low) and nonscheduled castes. Members of the nonscheduled castes constitute about half of all Hindus in Bangladesh. Buddhists form less than 1 percent of the population. Of the tribes in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, the Chakmā, Marma, and Mro are mostly Buddhists. The Kuki, Khomoi (Kumi), and some of the Mro are animists. While most of the Mizo (formerly called Lushai) are Christians, the Tripura are Hindus.

Demographic trends

Almost half of Bangladesh’s population is under 15 years of age; the birth rate is high, and average life expectancy is about 50 years. The rate of infant mortality remains high. There has been almost no immigration since the 1970s. A relatively small number of Bangladeshis work in Britain and in Middle Eastern countries, and there has been a steady emigration of farm labourers into neighbouring Assam.